billy volek on sportsline

I honestly think that they brought in Collins for 2 reasons...one for insurance so if our starter went down with an injury, VY wouldn't be FORCED to start before he was ready. Secondly, I expect an open QB competition between Volek and Collins and let the best man win. The other guy would be the real #2 starter though VY would be there in the depth chart so he could play, but if Volek went down, Collins would have become the #1 and VY would have stayed at #2.

Makes perfect sense to me.

More importantly, we'd get the best of the 2 starting at QB after a competition (once Collins learned the offense). Mainly, I think the Titans figured there was a good chance Volek could struggle or get hurt behind a porous OL. Investing $3mil between the 2 of them is not a lot of money comparatively. Would it really matter who was the #1?

In actuality, I expect VY to be ready to start or at least be a REAL #2 sometime this season. At that point, I think whoever was the #3 QB would have been traded (if before the trade deadline) or cut.

If KC was given the job from day 1, how come no one knew that? Collins said he was going to learn the offense as quickly as he could and that then the coaching staff would decide who to start. If he was going to be the starter, the Titans would have been better working out a trade of Volek BEFORE they signed Collins, not after.

And taking reps away from Volek is the ONLY way another QB could come in here and not hurt the development of VY. From what I read, he didn't take all his reps but they split Volek's reps so they didn't take any away from VY. Is this not correct?

On the other hand, since Volek demanded a trade the day after KC was signed, I could see why they would have taken away all of Volek's reps if they already decided to trade him and not play him. I don't think this was the best idea though. They should have forced a QB competition and not worried about Volek being scared of a little competition. They can handle the cap hit of Collins.

C'est la vie.

Fisher lying to the media is nothing new...nor is it new for any head coach. Come on...you ALWAYS have to read between the lines with HC speak! ESPECIALLY when it's guys who 'tell it like it is.' They lie the MOST!

Gut

TitanJeff said:

Gut, do you honestly think the Titans brought in Collins and paid him $2 mil to be the emergency QB on Sunday? Collins, himself, said he turned down the Chargers job because he wanted to start. I have no doubt he was going to be given the #1 QB job from day one or he would have gone to San Diego.

Funny how Volek's reps were yanked and given to Collins if there was to be a "competition" between the two. Was Volek supposed to string up a tire to a tree to throw through to stay sharp?

This is another example, in a long line of others, of total and complete BS from Fisher in shooting straight on an issue. I hope that he handles things behind closed doors much more decisively than he appears to in public.

I honestly think that they brought in Collins for 2 reasons...one for insurance so if our starter went down with an injury, VY wouldn't be FORCED to start before he was ready. Secondly, I expect an open QB competition between Volek and Collins and let the best man win. The other guy would be the real #2 starter though VY would be there in the depth chart so he could play, but if Volek went down, Collins would have become the #1 and VY would have stayed at #2.

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I don't buy it because the loser of the "competition" never sees the field. I don't see either accepting the #3 role. And I don't see the Titans throwing $2 mil at someone who they anticipate would not see the field. For that matter, I don't think Collins signs if he isn't the #1 after being unwilling to be the #2 in San Diego.

IMO, when they signed Collins, it was because they felt Volek couldn't get it done and they were going into another direction.

If KC was given the job from day 1, how come no one knew that? Collins said he was going to learn the offense as quickly as he could and that then the coaching staff would decide who to start. If he was going to be the starter, the Titans would have been better working out a trade of Volek BEFORE they signed Collins, not after.

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I think Fisher knew that from day one. Look at what happened. Volek's reps go to Collins. All talk from BSP wasn't about how the coaches were looking forward to this competition the final week of the preseason but how they were giving Collins a crash course on the offense. Collins starts the Packer game and every indication was the Titans planned on him being the #1 against the Jets.

I saw or read nothing to indicate that Volek was ever going to get a fair shake in a "competition". I don't think he did either since he demanded a trade.

Think about that a moment. If he truly had a shot to remain the #1 in Tennessee, why demand a trade to a team where he will be the #2? The Titans were his one and only shot to be a starting QB in the league. He'll be staring at River's backside this season and isn't guaranteed anything beyond the end of this season. Would Rosenshark have advised him to make a stink if had a shot to remain the #1?

Volek knew he would become the #3.

And taking reps away from Volek is the ONLY way another QB could come in here and not hurt the development of VY. From what I read, he didn't take all his reps but they split Volek's reps so they didn't take any away from VY. Is this not correct?

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Totally correct. Collins reps all came from Volek. But if they intended to give Billy a shot to be the #1, don't you think it would be more important to take a few from Young instead so Volek could stay sharp and "in the competition?" It just doesn't sound to me like there is any way to have a "competition" when you get your reps taken from you and you are unable to compete.

On the other hand, since Volek demanded a trade the day after KC was signed, I could see why they would have taken away all of Volek's reps if they already decided to trade him and not play him.

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I think that decision was made the day they decided to sign Collins.

Fisher lying to the media is nothing new...nor is it new for any head coach.

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You're right. But if he spreads this BS to the players (and I think he does), at what point do they lose trust their head coach? It's another case where it looks like the front office, coaches and players are not on the same page and are at odds with each other.

Apparently the lie that shattered Fisher's confidence in Volek was when Volek said he was out of town, when they wanted him to come in for an unscheduled meeting at BSP, and in reality he wasn't... WOW! Big stuff, missing a voluntary meeting.

And I still have not seen anything to the fact that Volek ever threw teammates under the bus in public. He may have done it in private at BSP, but if it's against the rules to comment on teammates who are not performing to your coaches it's no wonder this team sucks.

TJ, if you don't feel Volek is getting it done and VY is not ready, why WOULDN'T you sign KC to come in and compete with him? And since you're not hiring Joe Montana, why would you simply resign yourself to giving Collins the job when he's never been with this team or has any relationship with any of the coaches and we have no idea how fast or how well he'll learn the offense. To me, that doesn't sound like KC gets the starting job day 1. Furthermore, the Titans nor KC even hinted that he was being given the starting job when he was signed.

Maybe that's what the Titans HOPED would happen...Collins comes in and takes a month to learn the offense and then takes over at starting QB if the offense is struggling. Either way, Volek would have had time to prove himself since I think we'd all agree KC was not ready for the first 2 games at least.

Fisher said when they signed KC that he and Volek would split the reps (Vole's reps)...not KC gets all of Volek's reps while Volek just hands out water at practice.

We'll never know how or what might have gone down since Volek demanded a trade and this eliminated any shot Volek might have had.

I firmly believe that Volek would have started the first game or 2 if he'd just kept his mouth shut (or better yet...welcomed the 'competition') and worked hard.

As far as Volek demanding a trade as being proof he got a raw deal, why did he demand a trade before last season too? Last season he SHOULD have thought 2 things...McNair is brittle so even as the #2 I'll get to play...and McNair has a huge contract/bonus the Titans don't want to pay so it's likely I'll inherit the starting QB job. And yet...he demanded a trade?!?!?!?

As far as paying KC to be a starter or backup, you're looking at each individual player. You can't do that especially since neither Volek nor KC are making a large sum of money for the position. Even combined they aren't making much...which is my point.

The simple fact is, Fisher and Reese know their jobs are on the line. If they didn't sign KC and Volek had gone down, they would have been left with an ill-prepared VY leading this offense which probably would not be beneficial in the win/loss column and his chances of getting hurt are increased. The other unappealing option would be to start Mauck...which also wouldn't help us in the w/l column and we'd be staring at a top 5 pick in next year's draft as well as a new GM/Head Coach! Signing a vet QB to backup and/or compete for a starting job makes perfect sense since KC is not commanding big money.

The Titans have been fairly consistent in overspending and if VY is ready to start this year, KC would become a backup QB anyway....even at his $2mil salary.

If we still had Volek, one of them would have been the #2 guy (though listed at #3 for gameplaying purposes) and if Reese were smart, he would have checked to see how close VY was to being ready at week 5. If VY was within a few weeks of being able to start, he could then trade Volek or KC (whomever was not the starter) to free up some cap space since VY would have been ready to become at least the real #2 about that time. If VY wasn't ready, they could have carried them til the end of the season after which Volek would probably have left anyway.

Whether you want to place blame at the feet of Fisher and the Titans or Volek ( or some combo), the team has been screwed a bit from this and not signing KC sooner is on Reese's shoulders.

If you spent your NFL career as a backup and this looked like the year you finally would get a shot, he SHOULD have come in instead of lying to do whatever he felt like doing.

Mangini of the Jets categorized the type of players the Pats and now the Jets look for and one of those characteristics is a firm committment to football. They cite that your football career is short so there is plenty of time for everything else AFTER your football career. If you remember back when the Titans first moved to Ten, there was a lot of flak over certain players NOT making the 'voluntary' workouts.

If you have a firm committment to football AND you want to be the starter at the most important position on the field, you need to do everything in your power to get the job done.

If you see yourself as a backup QB, then you'll act like one and I think this is what Fisher referred to in his comments on the matter.

However, I don't know the actual situation since Mort implies one thing and Volek somewhat countered that when he said he cut short a fishing trip to be at the facility.

And no one said Volek threw his teammates under the Bus IN PUBLIC. I said he did throw them under the Bus in comments he made (when you said he never did). I have no problem with him sharing his thoughts about the team or it's personel in a private meeting with Fisher.

But the Titans are right in the sense that Volek hurt the team by jumping ship and forcing us to play a less than prepared KC in our first 2 games.

Of course, Reese should have brought Collins in way before this (but Collins also hadn't decided he would play more football).

Of course if they HAD brought in KC way before, we would be seeing the same people talking about how Volek was given a raw deal and never given a chance to start...blah, blah, blah...!

Apparently the lie that shattered Fisher's confidence in Volek was when Volek said he was out of town, when they wanted him to come in for an unscheduled meeting at BSP, and in reality he wasn't... WOW! Big stuff, missing a voluntary meeting.

And I still have not seen anything to the fact that Volek ever threw teammates under the bus in public. He may have done it in private at BSP, but if it's against the rules to comment on teammates who are not performing to your coaches it's no wonder this team sucks.

GuT, you still haven't answered my post on whether you really think it's a good idea to split gameweek reps between 2 quarterbacks? That means neither of them will be adequately prepared against the opponent.

No coach in his right mind has "competition" at the QB spot during the regular season. Giving half reps to your starting quarterback won't win you many games.

If you have a firm committment to football AND you want to be the starter at the most important position on the field, you need to do everything in your power to get the job done.

If you see yourself as a backup QB, then you'll act like one and I think this is what Fisher referred to in his comments on the matter.

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Well that might fly, if we didn't have a franchise quarterback who didn't do a whole lot of voluntary anything for the last couple of years. Yet it wasn't a problem for him, but if Volek refuses to drop everything he's doing and immediately report to BSP he's no commited? How would you feel if you were at the zoo or whatnot with your kids on a sunday and your boss calls you tells you go to work. Do you go? I don't.

If that were an isolated incident, I could understand why you'd read between the lines and come up with that result.

BUT

What's your explanation for Volek demanding a trade LAST YEAR?

And that was without competition and him standing on the verge of inheriting the offense....

And frankly, Volek is out of his mind not to stay. Forget the whole slap in the face thing...we all knew Collins wasn't ready and after a bad performance or not (even if you were right and they just handed an ill-prepared Collins the starting job), Fisher would have had to make a change at QB...especially after the first half of SD.

This was Volek's shot and percieved slight or not...he needed to suck it up, work hard and wait for another shot (again, assuming you are right). SD will give Phillip Rivers a lot more leash because letting Volek play and with the weapons Rivers has, he doesn't have to carry too much of the load.

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